A Different Ending
by the stargate time traveller
Summary: AU Rachel was never forgiven by Janet, and in an act so unlike herself, she leaves Manchester behind to get her career back on track. - My own welcome to the fourth season of Scott & Bailey!


**Scott & Bailey.**

**A Different Ending.**

Rachel never got tired of the London skyline at night. She often sat next to the window for hours after work, and just...gazed at the skyline and dreamt of the future. The tall buildings that touched the clouds, lights twinkling in the dark night. It was far better than Manchester.

Thoughts of her old home where she had roots did nothing for Rachel's heart. She'd lived in London for the last 6 years, she'd long since gotten over any homesickness she might've had when she'd first moved down from Manchester after her old boss Gill Murray had gone through that mess with Helen Bartlett.

Rachel shook her head of the melancholy and focused on the present. A lot had changed for Rachel since she'd left Manchester after things between her and Sean blew out of proportion, and the syndicate had stopped trusting her after Kevin had been found to be the leak to the newspapers. How they'd arrived at the conclusion she'd known what Kevin had been doing, she did not know. Rachel had been as shocked and horrified as the others when it had gotten out what Kevin had done, thanks to the CPS, but it had horrified her even more when the others had thought she had something to do with it.

They knew she wanted to excel in her career, why would she suddenly destroy it by passing information off? It was one thing getting drunk, but that was her limit.

Worse, her friendship with Janet had gone down the drain, and even though Rachel had helped through the mess of getting Gill back her friendship with Janet hadn't been repaired though she had tried to be the mature adult. Rachel wouldn't have minded if they hadn't repaired their friendship, but if they'd developed a cordial one...

Rachel knew she had no one to blame but herself for that mess; shagging a colleague when you're married already in your best friend's house, in front of said best friend's youngest daughter couldn't be called anybody's fault but your own.

After three months of coping with the distrust, Rachel had met a woman in a cafe. They'd gotten talking by chance and Rachel had found herself meeting a kindred spirit; she didn't tell the woman what kind of work she did, just the public sector, and the woman didn't pry.

Apparently she'd been married to a person similar in many ways to Sean, and she'd realised it had been a mistake a few months in, and the woman had found herself meeting other men before it blew up in her face. After her friend's had just left her, she'd decided to leave when she couldn't make amends.

Rachel had gone away for another month with the meeting in her mind. It sounded so attractive; it wasn't in Rachel's nature to simply up and leave, but she'd gotten it into her mind that Manchester just held all kinds of bad influences for her. The idea of leaving and transferring to a place like London grew more attractive in her mind, and there were all kinds of vacancies in London MIT syndicates. Alison, her sister, had been stunned by her idea of upping and leaving. Janet would've been surprised if she'd have known Alison had forgiven her sister for her infidelity. Then again Rachel hadn't told Janet at least verbally why her marriage to Sean had really collapsed, but she had tried at least. Janet had avoided her even after Gill had been rescued, so Rachel had decided to give up there as well. She ignored any phone calls from Elise and Taisie, and just went on with her own life as she settled on clearing up the messes Sean and Hayden had left in her flat.

What the true catalyst for the avalanche that had led to Taisie finding her and Kevin in bed together, shagging like rabbits.

But Alison had known.

Rachel had become pregnant a few months into her marriage to Sean; with all the shagging the two of them had been doing it would've been inconceivable for her not to become pregnant at some point. Sean had found out, and he'd gotten all excited. He told his mates, his family, and before she could've protested Sean's mother had repeatedly appeared. Like her son, the other Mrs McCartney had a really annoying habit of appearing whenever you didn't want company.

Rachel's ears would always ring with advice she didn't need or want about looking after a kid. In any case it didn't matter because, like her previous pregnancy, the baby died.

Rachel hadn't told anyone, but Sean certainly told his friends and family, and suddenly she was a pariah. In the months before that mess with Kevin, she simply had become afraid to even get out of her car outside her own bloody flat!

Alison had comforted her when Sean had become cold, a far cry from the passionate man who'd practically begged her to marry him. She had been there in the clinic when she'd found blood running from her knickers. She had been there to comfort Rachel when it happened, and she'd watched from the side as Sean went from a happy person to a cold, uncaring, angry man. Rachel hadn't understood it; how could the baby have died inside her when she'd taken the precaution of going to appointments? She'd been so careful.

Rachel sighed as she remembered that point in time. It wasn't one she liked to remember, even now. Why hadn't Sean simply spoken to her about what had happened? That would've been the most mature thing for him to do; impulsiveness was a key facet of her personality, but even Rachel appreciated maturity when it was needed. But Sean... Why did he suddenly turn round and treat her like shit? It hadn't been her fault she'd lost the baby any more than it had been the last time.

Despite being understandably disappointed in her when her infidelity had come out, Alison hadn't abandoned her like her other friends had. Alison hadn't thought it was a bad idea her moving away from Manchester, well not too much, when Rachel had told her the place held too many bad things for her. Oh, her useless ex husband had tried to speak to her before the truth had come out, but it always felt more like an interrogation until she just hated the sight of the man.

Rachel transferring to London had taken the syndicate by surprise, but she hadn't let anyone's reactions get her down. Hell, she didn't really bother to notice how her leaving affected the team as she made the transfer. She didn't notice walking out of the door, carrying her few belongings on her desk, Janet's upraised hand as the blond had tried to say something. She didn't notice the shock on Lee or Mitch's faces, nor did she notice how Pete looked like he wanted to say something to her.

She didn't notice how Gill had looked like the ground beneath her feet had just caved in. No, all she had done was walk out with her head held high as she put aside all of her stupidity and immaturity. She hadn't noticed the reactions because she didn't want them to haunt her.

All she did notice was the journey to London, the hell of moving into a little home, and setting herself up with a new syndicate and team.

Unlike her time with syndicate 9, Rachel didn't make the mistake of getting drunk and she'd started attending meetings at Alcoholics Anonymous to prevent her from shattering her career which she loved so much. She only went out when she needed to, and she also changed some of her bad habits like leaving food to rot in the fridge. She'd made new friends; she had been partnered with another DC, Karen Matthews who was now a DS like her. Karen was a laugh, but like Rachel she was ambitious. She and Rachel quickly became firm friends, though Rachel had had to rein in Karen's enthusiasm. Karen was younger than Rachel, and she was much newer. She'd never worked in an MIT syndicate before, so Rachel had taken on a role similar to the one Janet herself had when she'd appeared in syndicate 9.

The irony was not lost on Rachel.

After a year in MIT, Rachel had taken the opportunity to broaden her horizons, and she'd transferred to Murder Squad and she'd taken Karen with her. If she'd thought MIT had been her niche, then Murder was her paradise. She loved that department. She loved it, and she was even considering remaining there for a long time. Karen and her had quickly found themselves becoming better and better.

"You're good. One day you'll be very good," Gill Murray had once told her, and being in Murder had taken that to a whole new level. Both Karen and Rachel had gone for the DS exams, and they'd passed the interviews but both of them had been transferred to different teams though they remained good friends. As a DS, Rachel had changed her old reputation, and now she was better (so she liked to imagine) than Andy Roper.

Over the next few years, Rachel had toyed with the idea of going back to MIT but she shelved that one for the future as she concentrated on the present.

* * *

><p>Rachel didn't completely abandon Manchester.<p>

She occasionally visited her sister over the Christmas period, and checked up on her old friends she'd had outside the police. She left syndicate 9 and its members completely alone.

Meeting them again would be too painful.

* * *

><p>The newly promoted DS Janet Scott entered Gill's new office. The syndicate had moved to a more up to date police station, and everything was much more roomier than the original office.<p>

Janet found Gill staring at her computer screen with an expression of surprise and joy and a bit of sadness. "The latest news of the interviews boss," she said, sliding the reports on her desk. Janet was about to head out of the office when she heard a whisper.

"She's done it," Gill whispered.

Janet turned around, taking note of Gill's body language. "Gill?"

Gill looked up, "See for yourself. Do you remember that story of the child killer in London that Murder was chasing?"

Janet nodded, "Yes." What Gill said surprised her.

"Rachel's caught her."

Janet's shout had everyone in the office jump in shock, "What?"

"See for yourself," Gill got out of her chair so Janet could sit down and read the article. The first thing that caught Janet's attention was the picture of her friend, or should that be ex-best friend? Janet closed her eyes sadly as she remembered how Rachel had tried to tell her something continuously over a two month period, something she would learn later in a letter and an ultra-sound showing an unborn child. Over those two months, Janet had felt justified in ignoring Rachel. But after she'd left the syndicate without a backward glance, she'd thought that seeing someone whom she cared out walk away without a care in the world was bad enough.

The worst was to come. Janet remembered the ultra-sound of Rachel's child with Nick Savage, so she knew the one Rachel had sent her had been a totally different picture.

Rachel had been pregnant during her marriage with Sean, and obviously she'd lost another baby.

Sean had fallen out of love with her, or at the very least he'd started hurling verbal abuse at her so she snapped and started seeing other men to soothe the pain. What really hurt Janet was that Rachel had sent it so then it would've arrived at a time she was shopping for the week, but she understood the reasoning. Rachel must have thought she would've thrown the letter away like it meant nothing, so she sent to members of her family who wouldn't be so callous. The letter had arrived on Saturday, a day after Rachel had left for London. On that day, Elise and Taisie had been at home.

Janet remembered the phone call from the girls whilst she'd been doing the weekly shop. How panicked and hurt her daughters sounded. What she'd found hurt her more than anything, and Janet had broken down sobbing at the thought she'd never see her friend again after Rachel had suddenly stopped trying to speak to her. At the time Janet had been preparing to speak to Rachel before she left, deciding that Rachel had learnt her lesson...But she hadn't expected the brunette to suddenly transfer to London of all places. And for six years nothing had been the same.

When her mother had read the letter and saw the photo, Dorothy had been shocked but sad.

A hand on her shoulder brought Janet out of her gloomy thoughts. Gill knew what had happened, and she knew that Janet would've eventually spoken to Rachel but when the young DC had left that avenue had closed down.

Janet sighed and read the article, though her eyes flicked towards the picture of Rachel. The brunette had really changed. Her once long hair had been cut shorter to frame her face more, and she was smiling a bit shyly but happily.

The child killer in the city had been found after Rachel had checked on the kids. They had all been students of the same school, so the connection was obvious but Rachel had done a check on the other teachers. The murderer had once worked in schools in America and China, and in all those cases there had been a number of deaths.

The woman's motivation for murder was because when she'd been a child, her parents had overlooked her for other kids. They'd been child psychologists, and the hatred had burned in her over the years before she'd become a teacher. According to the detailed article, her parents had been beyond pleased she'd gone into teaching children but they had no way of knowing she'd only done it because she wanted to see children suffer for what she'd been through.

A quote from Rachel jumped out at Janet, and she could almost hear the woman's voice echoing through her head. "It's a psychiatrist's nightmare; punishing kids for perceived wrongs which don't exist, for thinking her parents cared more for other children than for her."

Janet locked eyes with Gill as she got out of the chair. "She's certainly gotten better."

* * *

><p>The streets of Manchester hadn't really changed for Rachel though there were new shops, new businesses springing up. Rachel loved walking through the streets of her old home; in London there was more variety, and a lot more culture. Whenever she returned at Manchester for Christmas with Alison's family she would always go for a walk at night to simply soak up the atmosphere before she went home again.<p>

Home.

A smile suddenly found its way to her face as she realised that she no longer saw Manchester as home anymore. It was a sad thought, but it was true. After walking around for a long time, Rachel suddenly found herself outside what had once been a property. It was a place that still sent chills down her spine.

Joe and Eunice Bevan's old place. The house itself had long since been demolished, but the house's basic structure was still standing. It was still a demolition site, but whether or not the place was being surveyed by property developers, Rachel didn't know and frankly didn't care. It wasn't her problem anymore.

Rachel stood outside the fenced wall for a while when she saw something that caught her eye. A gap in the wall. Rachel's legs started moving her towards the gap for a reason she didn't understand, and after squeezing herself through, she pulled out a torch she nowadays always carried with her and she shone it around. She narrowly avoided the massive hole, and she just took in the piles of bricks, mortar and concrete lying around the place.

Rachel wasn't surprised that the house had been demolished. Who the hell in their right minds would want to live in a place where a twisted bunch of psychopaths with a fetish for sex games and torture with a habit of killing them and burying them on your property? No-one would want it.

Janet was absently reading a book as her daughters and mother played a game. Janet had just come home from a long day of work, and a court appearance on top so she was anything but enthusiastic for a loud game.

When the door knocked, Janet locked eyes with Elise, "Get the door please 'Lise," she said.

Elise nodded quietly and went to the front door. A few moments later she came back. Janet sat up straighter when she saw the shock on her face, "Mum, someone with a torch is wandering around what's left of the Bevan property."

Dorothy turned in surprise. Janet got out of her chair and went to the front door. It was the same woman who'd started the whole Bevan case.

"I saw someone shine a torch on the site," she said.

"Did you see who it was?" Janet asked as she slipped her coat on and searched for a working torch, all the time wondering why the people in the neighborhood didn't do something more worthwhile than spy on the streets and gardens below. No, if it hadn't been for this woman they would never have learnt what that bastard family had been doing. She also patted her pocket to make sure her phone was still in her pocket. She didn't expect the woman to answer with a description. She was expecting, "Well, no, I didn't see them," or something along those lines so she was surprised when the woman replied in the positive.

"Actually, I did see her. I was looking out with my binoculars and she looks like one of your lot who dealt with the Bevan's last time," she answered.

Janet frowned, "Can you describe her?" Why would any of the officers who'd dealt with the Bevan case decide to wander over to the place now? It had been a good few years since the place had been open to the outside world, and nobody seemed keen for the place to become something else.

The woman spoke unknowingly breaking through Janet's thoughts, "Well, I'd say she was tall, thinnish, but I couldn't see her face, though I could tell she had short dark hair-"

Janet's eyes widened. "Elise," she called, having a good idea who was snooping on the Bevan site and hoping she was right, "let me in when I get back, yeah."

Elise nodded, surprised when she saw the look on her mother's face. She looked excited. After Janet had left, the teenager was frowning as she worked through what the old woman had said. Tall, thinnish, someone who'd worked on the Bevan case. Trouble was so many people had worked on it Elise didn't have a clue.

Janet stood quietly outside the tall plank fenced wall surrounding the demolition site. She saw the gap and knew how pathetically easy it was for someone to walk in. She took a deep breath to squeeze her stomach in as she squeezed through the gap. Janet didn't have a problem since she was tall and thin, but she wasn't one to take any chances.

The moment she was through the gap she turned her torch on, and only just managed to avoid the gaping hole which was all that was left of the Bevan's basement. It was much larger now as the builders had simply uncovered the foundations. Janet stepped around it, and shone her torch on the ground so she could see where she was going when she saw footprints. She bent down and saw they were fresh.

She looked up again when she saw another torchlight not far away, and she moved closer towards it, when her foot kicked something and made a loud noise. The other torchlight suddenly stopped and then the beam swung round in her direction. Janet blinked as the light was shone in her face.

"Janet, is that you?"

Janet almost grinned and laughed at the sound of Rachel's voice.

The torchlight bounced up and down as Rachel walked over, and when she was close enough Janet could see the surprise on her face.

"What're you doing here?" Rachel asked genuinely surprised.

Janet shrugged. "Someone saw you with your torch, came round to my place, and she gave a basic description," she looked almost longingly at Rachel, "I saw that article not long ago that you'd caught-"

"The child killer, yeah I know," Rachel interrupted, "I read the article. I wish they'd stop," she added looking away. Since the capture of the child killer she'd become well known in the police, but she was tired of the subject constantly springing up.

Suddenly Rachel shuffled her feet. "Do you want to get out of here?" Janet asked.

"Definitely," Rachel replied at once, "don't know why I was drawn here really. I just sort of came here."

Janet didn't say a word as the pair of them walked back towards the gap, and squeezed their way through so they stepped out onto the street. Rachel's eyes picked up a few people looking out of their windows. She smirked, and waved mockingly at them. Janet noticed, and she rolled her eyes when she saw the people looking down at them suddenly become almost embarrassed by their curiosity.

"Still dramatic?" Janet asked.

Rachel chuckled. "Yeah. Well, if their nosy, they should know better than to be so obvious when they're spying on others in the street."

Suddenly Janet became shy. "What're you doing now?"

Rachel smiled, "I was thinking of heading back to Alison's-"

"How 'bout you come round to my place for a drink?" Janet tried hard to keep her desperation out of her voice but she filed the mention of Alison away for future reference. There were so many things she and Rachel needed to clear up, too many to count.

But Rachel didn't move.

"The last time I went round your place, I messed up," Rachel's expression was set. She didn't need to remind Janet what she'd messed up.

"Yeah," Janet murmured but she knew better than to gloss over the topic, Rachel wouldn't have it, "I was pissed off. I trusted you Rachel, and you hurt me in a way I've never been hurt before. Then when that letter turned up," she went quiet. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Now?" Rachel gaped melodramatically, "Oh, right. You want to do this now? Here? Out in the street?"

Okay, it was time to bring out the big guns. "It's either this or get this all out at my place," Janet replied. "Your choice."

Janet knew Rachel well enough to know she would see through that. Rachel knew Janet well enough too to know she was deliberately tricking her. She glared at the blond, then she relented with a huff and eye rolling.

"Okay," she replied grudgingly.

Together the two women walked towards Janet's house. They didn't say a word to each other because they wanted to get it all out over a nice cuppa. Rachel nodded her head and then she suddenly stopped, "New neighbors?" she asked, nodding her head to a new family who was just getting out of their car, laughing.

"Yeah," Janet nodded, "don't really know them that well yet to make a proper opinion of them." She didn't need to add she didn't exactly have the time with the pressures at work. Her legs started to move when Rachel's hand shot out and stopped her. The brunette ignored her look of puzzlement as she was too busy focusing on one person in particular.

Rachel frowned at the teenage boy. He looked shifty. Her eyes widened. "When you're back at the office, look at the name Gerald Oswald."

"Who's that?"

"A drug dealer. I remember him from my days before joining MIT," Rachel whispered. Oswald had very poor observational skills for a drug dealer. He hadn't noticed Rachel or Janet. "I never met him personally, but there was once an investigation with him involved and I never forget the face of a suspect. They couldn't get enough evidence to convict him then, but he does have previous."

Janet closed her eyes. Great. It was bad enough a family of twisted, murderous sex obsessed maniacs had been living so close to her house now she had to worry about a drug dealer.

Rachel noticed her annoyance. "Sorry Janet."

"No, don't apologise," Janet replied, "I'm glad I know now instead of later."

Rachel nodded. A lot of things could happen in a small amount of time, and she knew that Janet was thinking about the possible kids Oswald might get hooked on drugs if he was still dealing, and she knew that he probably was. Oswald had been arrested so many times he had never learnt from it. But the kids on the street could become addicts very quickly; Taisie and Elise, for a start, though Rachel couldn't imagine the two girls doing something like that.

As they approached the house, Rachel felt very nervous. Memories of how she'd treated the place, how Taisie had looked betrayed, how she'd shouted at Janet coming back to haunt her.

Janet saw Rachel hanging back, and silently she took her hand and led her up the steps. Janet knocked on the door and called through the letterbox, "Elise, can you let us in please?"

Rachel realised she hadn't asked Janet how the girls had been, but it was too late. Elise had opened the door, and the moment she saw Rachel she screamed in delight and shock. Before Rachel knew what had happened, mild mannered, quiet Elise Scott had thrown herself against Rachel. Surprised by the impact Rachel barely had enough time to wrap her arms around Elise to stop themselves both falling down the steps.

"Hi, Elise," Rachel whispered, winded from the impact. Janet chuckled. Attracted by the sound of the scream Taisie and Dorothy came to the door. The moment Taisie saw who her big sister was hugging, she cried in delight. Rachel barely had time to gasp a help to Janet before Taisie had thrown herself like Elise had around Rachel's body.

"Ooh," Rachel gasped at the second impact, but she hugged both girls around herself. Well, she would've done if Taisie hadn't pulled herself back and slapped Rachel.

"Taisie!" Janet gasped as Rachel winced at the impact and rubbed her cheek as Elise jumped back in surprise herself. Taisie ignored her mother, and glared angrily at Rachel, "Where the hell have you been? That letter scared us to death. Why didn't you say you were pregnant, that you'd lost the baby-"

"Taisie," Elise tried to say, "don't-"

Taisie didn't listen, "We could've helped you."

Rachel looked down at her feet. "No, you couldn't have," she looked up, "what happened to our baby - it was the first crisis me and Sean had, and-," suddenly Rachel looked up and down the street then back again with a scowl, "look, can we please take this indoors? I don't feel comfortable giving any eavesdroppers any gossip." She looked up and down the street. Janet wrinkled her nose when she noticed there were a few people trying to appear nonchalant peeking through curtains down at the scene in the street.

* * *

><p>"I entered that marriage with Sean though I knew it was a mistake," Rachel was saying as they sat in the living room, "the wedding had been rushed, Sean hadn't even given us the time needed to get to know each other again. I mean, come on. We were both coppers, which we hadn't been when we'd dated as kids. A lot had changed."<p>

Rachel paused and sipped from her mug. "Anyway, I tried to make our marriage work out. For I time I succeeded, but then I became pregnant. Janet remembers how I miscarried the last time, so she knows I've got problems with pregnancy. I tried to tell Sean. He wouldn't listen. He was suddenly going on about how we'd have beautiful children. It made me cry, but not with happiness. I was terrified I would lose the new baby. Maybe I shouldn't have jinxed it."

She let out a sigh. "Sean told his mates, but I didn't tell anybody except Alison. I didn't tell you Janet 'cause you had your own problems, but I didn't want to get my hopes up. Sean didn't notice. He was too busy telling his family, his friends about it."

Rachel drank a large amount of tea from her mug and she sighed, "My delightful ex mother in law kept coming round whenever I least expected her. It was like one of the seven plagues of Egypt coming round to my flat. It never ended; she seemed to bleed me dry, she ate my supply of biscuits, and she always invited herself to my home when I really didn't want her to. I mean I was working on important cases, I needed to get some sleep before a court appearance, and this bloody hag wouldn't leave me alone. When she would go away, she left me with my ears ringing with all kinds of advice about babycare, and I hadn't even been pregnant for more than a month. I was inundated. I was going to tell you Janet, girls, but then it happened."

Janet closed her eyes.

"It was like last time," Rachel went on, looking into her mug, "I had blood pooling everywhere at Alison's place. She took me to the clinic where they told me I'd lost the baby, as if I didn't already know that."

Janet held Elise and Taisie back from hugging Rachel, she could see her friend was still reeling from the pain and she also knew there was a lot more pain to come through. "What happened next?" she asked.

Rachel looked up, her eyes shining with unshed tears. "Alison told Sean; I was too out of it to think straight. When he arrived at the clinic, he was all hysterical. He even walked out of the clinch without even bothering to check if I was okay, how I was holding up after losing something growing inside me die, but a few days later he spoke over me like I wasn't there. When he did speak to me again, I felt like I was being beaten with cricket bats. I dreaded going back to the flat. Sean and Hayden had taken the bloody place over.

"Sean ignored my existence. Every time he spoke to me, I felt like I would never be happy again. Then finally I decided to go to out, and that's when it started; I started sleeping with other guys. Life with Sean was like living with the Stasi. I felt like my every movement was being recorded by Sean," Rachel sighed and took another deep gulp of her tea. She didn't have much left. "Finally life with him was unbearable. I started sleeping away from the flat, then it came to Kevin." Rachel looked up at Taisie. "I'm sorry, kid. I shouldn't have been pissed that night."

Rachel kept speaking to stop anyone from interrupting her. "When Gill had been kidnapped and after she'd been rescued from Bartlett, a lot had changed. Kevin had been arrested by the CPS for passing sensitive information to the press, and the syndicate, in all its wisdom," and here she injected some hurt and frustrated bitterness into her voice from a deep part of her that had never truly been resolved, "thought I had known about it. How could I have known? From one night? Please!"

Janet's eyes were wide. She couldn't believe it, and yet it was true. She knew that the trust the syndicate had had in Rachel had dried up considerably after Kevin had been fired, but she hadn't expected it to be that bad. Then there had been the way she'd treated Rachel herself, she remembered the number of times Rachel had tried to speak to her, desperately begging her to listen. Janet remembered just about that Rachel had been begging her to listen to something important before she simply gave up, and walked away whenever Janet appeared. She remembered from the letter Rachel had left the words "I was trying to tell you this before, but you wouldn't listen" and she knew now Rachel had been trying to tell her about her failed pregnancy.

Rachel looked away, and fell silent. Elise whispered, "What happened then Rachel?"

"I put up with the crap from the divorce and at the office for three months before I met a woman in a cafe. She'd gone through the same hell I had; her marriage had been flushed down the bog, her friends had shunned her... I didn't tell her what I did for work, only that I was in the public sector. She didn't ask. I asked her how she'd coped," she looked up. "She told me she'd left her ex friends behind, and started again somewhere else. And she was happier."

Janet and Elise frowned, the same thought going through their mind. But Dorothy got there first, and she spoke for the first time. The older woman in the room may not have liked Rachel - still didn't - but she knew enough about her to get an idea of her personality.

"Sorry, but Rachel, running off doesn't sound like you."

Rachel chuckled without humor before sobering slightly, "I know. It's not. I never ran away before, but...I dunno. I stayed around for a bit longer and nothing changed, but the idea of just leaving, walking away and making a fresh start somewhere else...," she shrugged her shoulders, "It just sounded so compelling. In the end I decided to go ahead with it. I was old enough to make my own decisions, and eventually I made arrangements. Like you said Janet, you're not my mum."

"Gill almost died of shock when you went into her office one day," Janet said, hiding her wince at the memory that Rachel had just dug up for her, "she couldn't believe it when you told her you wanted to leave for London."

"I felt bad doing it, too," Rachel remarked. "I just wanted to go without hassle."

"I tried to stop you," Janet whispered, "I was going to start talking to you again." She looked at Rachel, studying her face and expression deeply. She wondered what kind of thought was going through her mind. She didn't know what she hoped to see from Rachel's expression, but she was surprised when she saw with great sadness that Rachel didn't look surprised by the news, or she simply had let it slip to the back of her mind.

Rachel didn't say a word. She just sat there, blinking. Her face and eyes impassive.

Dorothy was not going to let Rachel just sit there and leave her daughter depressed. In her mind Rachel was only proving she wasn't a good person, let alone a good friend of Janet's. "Aren't you going to say anything to Janet?" she asked, and Janet immediately looked at her, her hands raised and miming the shut up sign, but Rachel spoke coldly, and everything she said was like a knife to Janet's heart because everything she said was not a lie, but the truth, "And say what? We weren't speaking, Dorothy. Every time I tried to speak to Janet, she would ignore me. After 2 months of trying and failing, I got the message. I gave up. I stopped. End. Of. Story. I left for London, to make a new life for myself. I joined Alcoholics Anonymous to make sure I never touched another wine bottle ever again." Rachel's brown eyes flashed with barely suppressed anger when Dorothy snorted disbelievingly at that. "I don't care if you believe me or not. I have spent the last six years of my life rebuilding my career. I've carved a niche out in the Murder squad. I caught the Child killer who was a teacher in a school. Can you say the same Dorothy? Cause you see, I don't really care. I find other people to care so I don't have to. I'm not a good person," Rachel looked down at her hands so they couldn't see her haunted expression, "I'm not a good person. Its just taken me a long time to admit it."

"Rachel, that's enough," Janet said calmly; unlike her mother she really wanted her old friend to still be in her life, but she wasn't going to let Rachel become abusive towards her mother. No way. Not even if her mother had pushed her too far. Worse still was how Rachel had described herself as. Of course she was a good person.

Rachel, fortunately, calmed down but she didn't apologise.

"What changed for you when you arrived in London?" Taisie asked to stop her gran and Rachel having a catfight. Like her mother, she couldn't believe Rachel didn't think of herself as a good person. How couldn't she be after finding that Child killer? The story of those murders, gruesome and sick murders which had driven the media crazy for weeks and weeks, had shaken so many people up. Rachel had done everyone going to school in London a favor.

"When I arrived, I entered an MIT syndicate," Rachel said, "it was completely different from when I joined syndicate 9; I was older, more experienced, and I was put in change of another young offer. Karen Matthews. She was like a clone. She was ambitious, gutsy. I saw the irony as I'm sure you do Janet when I was asked to tutor her. Karen is a good friend."

Janet bit her tongue. Jealousy was boiling inside of her. "Whenever she made a mistake, I would tell her that I made more or less the same mistake, but I'd steer her away from making another," Rachel smiled as she clearly remembered the memories of how many mistakes this Karen had made.

"Do you...do you think you might come back to Manchester?" Elise asked quietly. From what Rachel was saying, she was much happier in London than she had been in Manchester.

Rachel lifted a brow. She knew precisely why Elise was asking that question. "I did have another reason for leaving," she admitted after a few moments of silence as she'd considered the question.

"What was that?" Taisie asked.

"Manchester had been my home for almost 40 years," Rachel said, "and with it came memories, people who unwittingly I let get close; Nick, Dom, Sean...and they almost ruined my career, and do you know what's worse Taisie?" Rachel leaned forwards so then the distance between her face and Taisie's grew closer. "I let them. In some cases I let my pride and arrogance get in the way. Can you believe that? I'd spent years planning, preparing, dreaming of becoming something better than my mum and dad, something better than my own sister...And I let morons push me further down. I got drunk continuously, and after that cafe meeting I realised I couldn't let another thing happen again."

"You left because you didn't want to let anything else come round the corner," Elise said.

Rachel nodded. What else could she say, it was the truth. "When I got to London, I had nobody. Nobody knew me. I had no murderous and treacherous ex boyfriends, no simple minded brothers, no turnabout husbands. A fresh start. It was paradise. Call me a coward for walking away, but I had spent almost six months after Gill had been kidnapped cleaning up my mess, and I wasn't getting anywhere. The only person, more or less, on my side was Alison."

"Alison knew about your baby?" Janet knew she shouldn't have been surprised, but she couldn't help it.

Rachel sent her a look. "How couldn't she know when blood fell from my privates in her own bathroom? Worse, she had to help me stop Sean from going on the rampage like a deranged rhino in a warehouse full of china. I didn't stay round her place 'cause she would've worried. I didn't want her to go through that. I love my sister deeply. I downplayed what Sean was doing behind closed doors. He wasn't abusive physically, verbally," she added quickly when she saw the Scott girls' backs straighten, "that's what made it so easy for me to cheat on him. I did try to talk to him, he wouldn't let me. In the end he decided to speak to me, but every time he did it was like being interrogated. In my own home."

"Alison was far from impressed in case you're wondering about my infidelity, but she understood it at least. She knew but didn't pry that my marriage was falling apart. And Sean had made it worse by creating a rift, but we tried so hard to get him to realise the baby's death was just a fact of life. He took it like a great sin."

Rachel looked away. "I come back to Manchester occasionally to visit Alison, but only for a few days. That's what I was doing when I checked out the Bevan property. Or what's left of it."

"Why would you even go there?"

"Whenever I'm back in Manchester, on my last night I just walk around to soak up the place. London is enormous. It's so diverse, the skyline at night is spectacular. But I like walking through Manchester with a fresh outside perspective, something I'd never had living here. Don't ask what I was thinking wondering through that place, I just did out of curiosity. God alone knows why."

The front doorbell rang. Dorothy, more than happy to get away from Rachel, got up, "I'll answer that," she said unnecessarily and she left for the door.

Rachel's eyes followed her out. She knew, judging from how quickly she'd left, Dorothy wanted to get away from her. It didn't make any difference to her. There had been a time she would've done anything to make the woman, well not necessarily like her, but respect her. Now she didn't really care if Dorothy liked her or not. How six years could change more than a few of your ways.

"When did you become a DS?" Janet asked.

"Three years ago," Rachel replied, "I helped Karen through her own exams after we went into Murder together, and we were separated to different places but we keep in touch."

"I'm a DS too," Janet said once again holding back the jealousy at hearing Karen's name again; she didn't even know the woman, and she was hateful, jealous.

Rachel blinked, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you refuse to become a full DS when Gill asked you?"

Janet nodded ruefully. Despite being good friends with Rob, she had regretted her decision. It all stemmed from her time with Andy.

"I changed my mind, and then Rob moved on," she said.

"Where is he now?"

"He's a DI. He's working under another DCI, in a different syndicate."

Footsteps outside in the hall drew their attention before Rachel could even reply to the news. Gill walked into the living room slowly, her eyes fixed on Rachel who stood up. "Hi," she said; she had no idea what else to say.

That was all Gill needed, and before Rachel even knew what had hit her Gill had thrown herself at her like Elise and Taisie had. Rachel gasped as the closest thing to an actual mother squeezed her around the chest. She was about to wrap Gill in a hug when the older woman pulled back sharply. Rachel only caught a sharp, narrow eyed glare from the birdlike woman before she suddenly felt a pain in her cheek. Gill had just slapped her exactly like Taisie had only much harder.

"Ow!" she shouted, "What was that for?"

"For leaving the way you did, why else?" Gill snapped back rhetorically.

Suddenly Rachel was very angry. She'd come up to Manchester to simply get away from it all, and see her elder sister. She hadn't expected to come across Janet, and she hadn't expected to tell the dreary story of what had happened to make her suddenly leave. She was pissed off because she was tired of other people passing judgement on her without considering other options and her side of things.

She'd been slapped twice in one night, and if anyone touched her again...

Her anger must've been visible because everyone else stepped back. "I didn't have much choice," Rachel hissed, "I left 'cause I was fed up with people thinking I knew what Kevin had been doing. How could I have known? Do you really think even an idiot like Kevin would've told me what he'd been doing, and do you honestly think I would've turned a blind eye? No. Kevin's betrayal stunned and pissed me off as well, but everyone else seemed to think I was in on it.

"Is that how you really thought of me, that I would've turned a blind eye and even helped him?" Rachel asked suddenly, hurt filling her voice, "Kevin leaking that information to the press went against everything I had been taught and what I believed in. I was with Pete when we went to meet Helen, and I can tell you this; she was someone who really wanted to be left alone and forget her past. Do you really think I was bothered when it was learnt she was a lesbian? No, I wasn't. I figured the woman had the right the live the way she'd wanted though it doesn't excuse her for not coming out and telling someone what her family had been doing.

"When she kidnapped you, I couldn't believe she'd do something so reckless and stupid. I was there helping to get you back. The next few months...I just gave up hope of the way it had been before coming back, and when I met that woman in the cafe who'd gone through pretty much the same thing I had, I had to leave."

Rachel suddenly leaned against the wall. She was exhausted from the rant, but it had been the only way to get most of it out. She'd never recovered from the lack of faith and sudden judgement her former colleagues in her old syndicate had shown in the last few months of her living in Manchester. It hadn't been her fault Kevin had suddenly sold out all that information to the press, and he should've known the CPS would've investigated. Or maybe he had known and decided he had nothing else to lose.

She looked down at her feet.

She had to get out, she had to leave. "I've got to go," she whispered, "I've got a train to catch in the morning-"

"No, Rachel," Gill said quickly, realising she'd made a mistake. "I'm sorry. I didn't know you'd gone through all that."

Rachel calmed down somewhat, but she didn't say a word. She still got up and left the room - though she went out through the backdoor and into the garden. Janet glowered at Gill and they all followed her out into the garden. They found Rachel sitting on the bench.

"Congratulations on making DS," Gill whispered, hoping to break the ice. It worked. Rachel suddenly smiled. "Thanks."

"You went into Murder," Gill said to make conversation.

"Yeah. My background in MIT really helped me there, so thanks for that," she smiled at Gill warmly, it amazed everyone how warm Rachel could be suddenly.

"So apart from the child killer," Gill raised an eyebrow when Rachel suddenly groaned and held her head, "any other cases of note?"

Rachel nodded, "Did you hear about the Toy Killer?"

Gill frowned, "No, I don't think I did."

"Doesn't surprise me, its still fairly recent. Someone was just leaving toys behind each time he committed a murder, and there was the time we met someone who kidnapped his victims, and drained them of blood."

"I heard about that," Gill said, and everyone nodded. "Yeah, what happened?"

Rachel sighed, and she pulled down her shirt collar. Gill was puzzled for a moment, then her eyes caught something. A scar on Rachel's neck. Her eyes shot open in shock, "No way-"

"It was my suggestion. We were pressed for options; we had few leads, and almost nothing to go on. So I came up with a plan to catch him, but he managed to smack me unconscious. When I woke up, I was tied down with my jacket and top off leaving me half naked on a cold metal slab." Rachel shuddered suddenly as she remembered how he'd loomed over her. "He loomed over me. I'll never forget the harsh light of the overhead lamp which made the place look like a surgery and made my eyes feel like they were an inch away from the sun, but I definitely won't forget how he'd looked; his thinning hair, the sneer on his lips, his cold grey eyes, but I'll never forget the way his gloved hand stroked me. When the others came, he'd already drained a pint and a half from my body."

Taisie and Elise were crying and hiding near their mother at the recount of the horror story. Rachel saw their expressions, and she instantly leapt from her seat on the bench. "Oh, I'm so sorry girls," she cried, she hadn't wanted the girls to be terrified by her story, "I didn't mean-"

"But you did tell them," Dorothy said, her expression set and furious. "You were right; you're not a good person."

"Nan, stop it," Taisie said, but it was too late. Rachel looked away.

"I know," she whispered, then suddenly she looked up and tried to smile, but it didn't reach her eyes. "I'd better be going. I've still got a train to catch, thanks for having me everyone."

"Rachel, you don't have to go-" Janet tried to say, but Rachel shook her head. "No, no, I've got to be back soon. I've got, I've got to-" she stammered as she tried hard to get ready to leave.

Janet and Gill were about to say something, anything to persuade her to stay longer but they realised that Rachel was so overwhelmed by everything that maybe it would be a good idea to just let her go on her way.

Elise and Taisie went over to her silently, realising this was a temporary goodbye. At least they hoped it was temporary. Rachel hugged the two girls tightly.

Rachel was a bit awkward with the others - not Dorothy of course - but Gill hugged her tightly. If Rachel was awkward with Gill, then she was bloody terrified of Janet. She was still nervous; she had walked off six years ago to carve a career path away from her childhood home even if it had been for a good reason.

Janet quietly hugged her tightly. She didn't want to let her go, but she knew she had to eventually. Rachel hugged her back tightly. "I'm so sorry," she whispered.

"For what?" Janet asked.

"For everything that's happened," Rachel pulled away. Janet could see unshed tears in her eyes.

"No, its mine. I should've seen the signs-"

"How could you?" Rachel asked wryly, "I didn't tell you much anyway. Plus, don't forget it was my first major crisis with Sean. I wanted to resolve it on my own."

Janet nodded, it made sense that Rachel would want to become independent and solve her problems on her own after her marriage.

"I better be going," Rachel said. She walked over to Elise and Taisie for a quick hug, staying with Elise for a bit longer, and then she walked off.

Gill watched her as she was about to go, "Rachel, why do you think you're not a good person?"

Rachel stopped in her tracks, "Because I'm not."

She walked on.

Janet watched her as she walked off before she turned to her mother. "Mum, why did do that?"

Dorothy glared at her daughter. "Come on Janet, if she was a good person then why would she tell a story like that in front of two teenage girls?"

"We weren't expecting it," Elise spoke up.

"We weren't frightened 'cause of the story," Taisie added, "we were terrified 'cause someone we love could've died. She is a good person 'cause she was willing to stop a psycho."

Elise's hands went into her pockets, and she frowned when her fingers found something unfamiliar. She took it out. It was a white card were Rachel's contact details. There was also a hastily scrawled address on the card. Rachel had probably written it in the time it had taken her just to get to the garden.

"Mum, look," she handed her mother the card.

Janet held the card in her hand. She and Rachel might have just met again, but they still had a lot of things to resolve. To her this was a Christmas present worth having.

* * *

><p>Rachel wouldn't see a member of the Scott family for months though she was keeping in contact with them via phone and email. Already she'd started giving advice to Elise. Janet's eldest wanted Rachel's opinion on what she should do after she left University. Rachel for herself tried to keep her advice to the minimum since Elise knew her own mind, but she told the girl to look for other employment when she left. The problem with higher education was it didn't exactly get you the job you wanted. Worse, it just wasted so much money on tuition.<p>

Taisie just wanted to stay in touch with Rachel, who'd forgotten just how easily the bolshy girl could make her laugh. Rachel had always seen Janet's kids as her own siblings. She'd almost forgotten that.

Janet and Gill also kept in touch. They told her about the cases they'd gotten themselves involved in, and in return she'd tell them about some of what she was doing.

Alison was delighted when she heard that her sister was back in touch with her old friends. "Your miserable without them, and I know Janet must've been hurt when you walked out," she'd said ages ago to Rachel.

Gill, meanwhile, and unknown to either sister, had purposefully let slip one of the principle reasons why Rachel had left the syndicate. The others had somehow wrangled Rachel's contact email from Janet, and each of them had sent belated apologies to her. Rachel hadn't been sure what to make of them; she hadn't left because she was an attention seeker, she'd left because she'd wanted to rebuild her life and set things straight somewhere else.

* * *

><p>Rachel was surprised when she got home and found Elise of all people outside her door.<p>

"Elise, why're you here?" she asked, and cast a long look at the girl's appearance. Elise was dressed in warm clothes with a jacket which went down to her knees. There was also a satchel on the step. Oh no, Rachel thought, guessing why the girl was here.

Elise looked down, "I had to get away from Manchester too."

Later on as Rachel got the girl inside her flat and into a spare bedroom, she listened to Elise's story. Elise had wanted to do what Rachel had in a fit of pique because she'd looked around Manchester, and she'd realised that there was little in the city she'd been born for her to take as an opportunity.

"Elise, when I told you that story I didn't mean it for you to come down here," Rachel said when Elise had finished, before she sighed and considered her options. "Does Janet know you're here?"

"Of course she does," Elise replied, but her response was too quick and evasive. Rachel glared at her, narrowing her eyes and keeping as impassive as possible as she speared Elise with a look that demanded the truth.

Elise flinched and fidgeted, then she admitted the truth. "Okay, no she doesn't."

"When did you leave?"

Elise looked down at the table. "This morning."

Rachel shook her head, "Elise, you do know what you did was irresponsible. You do know I'm gonna have to tell your mum you're here, right?"

Elise looked away, "I only wanted to get away because I wanted to find a new life here in London."

Rachel sighed, "Did me leaving have something to do with that?"

Elise shrugged. "More or less," she admitted and she sighed herself, "I'm sorry Rachel, but I just grew so tired of life in Manchester-"

"You shouldn't have followed my example," Rachel interrupted, "Elise, I thought my reasons for leaving were clear. I left because I wanted a fresh start somewhere else."

"So do I," Elise replied. She was starting to cry. She'd hoped that Rachel would've understood.

"I understand, 'Lise, really I do," Rachel said quietly when she saw how upset the girl was getting. She sighed mentally since a real sigh would've made things worse. She needed to keep Elise calm. "So, what do you plan on doing now?"

Elise smiled, "I hope to find a decent job."

Rachel tilted her head. Nothing was wrong with this as far as she was concerned, but one thing worried her.

"Does your mother know you're here?"

Elise looked sheepishly at her.

Shit.

* * *

><p>Janet had been driving herself mad when the call from Rachel came. She'd been out for hours looking for her eldest daughter, she'd been visiting all of Elise's friends but they hadn't heard from her. They hadn't really spoken to her for a week or so, but when they had seen her last they'd noticed how different and restless she was.<p>

Janet had noticed her daughters restlessness too, but she hadn't expected her to go as far as running away like she had. She was scared that something might happen to her.

Janet had been worrying herself to bits at home whilst Dorothy and Taisie went with Gill to look for Elise. Hell, they'd even gotten help from Rachel's sister's family.

She was in her living room trying to think about what her daughter might be doing. That was what a detective did right? The phone call from Rachel came three minutes before Dorothy came back with Alison and Gill in tow.

Janet rushed to the phone, thinking it was her daughter. "Janet, its Rachel. Elise is at my place," Rachel told her over the phone. On the other end of the line Janet sagged in relief and disbelief; relief of knowing her daughter was safe and sound, and disbelief she'd gone all the way to London.

"What's she doing there?" she asked.

Rachel sighed, "Apparently she wanted to make a fresh start here. Sorry Janet, she took a leaf out of my book, but I don't think she actually thought this one out."

"Neither do I," Janet replied, she couldn't muster the effort to get angry at Rachel since none of this was her fault, "what's she doing now?"

"I'm outside my flat, in my car," Rachel said, "I don't want to be overheard. Anyway she was sleeping when I left, but - Has she been acting odd recently?"

"She's been restless. She kept saying she wanted to get out."

"Now we know what she meant," Rachel said then she sighed. "I don't know what to do, Janet. Elise is old enough to make her own decisions. When she told me about leaving Manchester...But my situation was different from hers. I'm sorry I did this."

"It's not your fault," Janet said softly. "Elise had been acting like a bear with a sore head for a while before you showed yourself, your story probably gave her the excuse to come down."

The door opened noisily and Janet held out a hand to shut everyone up. "Is she okay?" she asked. Everyone was surprised; the question made them think Elise had been kidnapped, but Janet's relaxed posture told them that wasn't the case.

Gill mouthed "Who is it?"

"She's okay, who was that who's just come in?"

"Gill, mum, Alison-"

"Alison, not my Alison?"

"How many other Alison's that I know Rachel?" Janet chuckled, ignoring the surprised reactions of everyone else. "But Elise is okay?"

"Yes," Rachel answered a bit exasperatedly. "What do you want me to do?"

Janet sighed. What could she do? She wanted to speak to Elise herself, but she knew better than to simply have Rachel put her daughter on the next train back to Manchester Piccadilly. Elise was a smart girl, she'd probably get off the next train. Rachel knew that as well.

"I don't know, but you can't just send her home. She'd probably just jump off the train at the next station," she said, "Can you bring her up in your car?"

Rachel sighed, "I can't, no. There's a massive case going on at the moment. The short of it is there's a massive garden full of dead bodies. The murderer is still out there, leaving behind all kinds of nasty surprises. Besides I think its best if you come down yourself, or send someone like your mum if you've got a case on. The sooner Elise decides for herself what to do, the better."

Janet bit her lip. Could she leave home for a few days to sort her daughter out, or had she left because she wanted to get away from her family? "I might be able to get away for a few days, but I don't know if it will make things worse or not."

"Well, in that case how about you let her stew for a few days, I can keep in touch with you and let you know what she's doing," Rachel offered, "and then we can figure out what to do at that point."

Janet mulled it over in her mind and saw nothing wrong with it. "Okay. Thanks for getting in touch and letting me know."

"No problem," Rachel said. "Does Alison or anybody else want a word? Better make it quick 'cause I'm on my mobile."

Janet looked at the others. "Anyone want a quick word with Rachel?"

Alison shook her head. "Tell her I'll speak to her later."

Janet was about to open her mouth to relay the message, but Rachel got there first, "Don't worry, I heard that. Does anybody else?"

At the end of the phone call, Rachel didn't speak to anybody since she'd started keeping in touch with the others. She walked back into her flat, and found Elise looking at one of the paintings on the wall. "Did you do this?" she asked curiously.

Delighted that Elise had finally come out of her shell and was asking questions that didn't relate to her family, Rachel went over and smiled. The painting wasn't really of anything; she'd just painted what had come to mind. Rachel had always had good observational skills though she'd never really been good at painting something with those skills.

"Yeah," she smiled at the girl.

"What's it of?" Elise asked.

Rachel chuckled, "You know those artists who just paint for the sake of it? Well, that's what I did." She finished her little explanation with a smile. She'd picked hobbies that were inexpensive which didn't involve going out. If she went out to a place like the cinema, or to a restaurant with a friend she'd probably be tempted to hit the bottle again.

Rachel didn't mind. She was actually quite proud she'd started painting. It helped develop her creativity, helped her to relax far better than wine drinking had ever done, and it allowed her to concentrate whenever she was busy concentrating on a case.

It also helped because she didn't suffer from hangovers anymore.

"They're wonderful," Elise commented, nodding her head towards the other paintings dotted about the flat, "Have you considered selling them?"

Rachel chuckled, and she relaxed by folding her arms and leant against the wall, "I don't know. I've just been painting 'cause I needed something to do with myself. One of the reasons I drank so much back in Manchester was 'cause I had nothing else to do. Drinking gave me a kind of release, but since the disasters I've had, and my divorce with Sean I decided to find something a bit more safer. I started getting into the habit of reading a book and listening to music, then I started doing things with my hands to keep my brain going."

Elise chuckled, then her expression sobered, "I saw you go to your car. Mum knows I'm here, doesn't she?"

Rachel nodded. "I had to tell her, 'Lise."

"I know," Elise sighed.

"You're not betrayed are you?"

Elise shook her head. "What did you tell her?"

"I told her you'd turned up at my flat, that you'd left to make a new life for yourself and what I should do," Rachel replied. "We realised you'd have gotten off a train if I'd put you on one, and I've got a case going on that's demanding all of my time, so I can't take you up. Eventually your mum and I came up with an idea that we wait and see what happens in case you change your mind."

Rachel was a bit unsure if she should've mentioned that bit, but she had to be honest with Elise. The girl needed to see that to be an adult she would have to accept responsibility.

But Elise took it with surprising mildness. "Do you want me to do anything?" she asked.

* * *

><p>In the coming weeks Elise and Rachel fell into a routine, and Elise went out of the flat to find things she could do. She'd graduated from University with flying colors, and she'd studied music and literature but before that she'd volunteered in charity shops and did odd jobs for a few old friends of her parents which had been a turn of luck.<p>

Her experience had quickly gotten her a well paid job, and though she had more than enough to pay her mother and Rachel back for their kindness and she could've moved out she decided to stay at Rachel's since the older woman had put her up and she was comfortable.

Eventually Elise decided she wanted to live in London permanently now she was out of her funk. Though her mother didn't like the idea of being separated with a massive distance from her daughter, Janet eventually accepted it.

What could she do? Elise was no longer a child, and she was perfectly safe with Rachel.

Janet's friendship with Rachel was improving, and eventually Rachel's friendships with her former colleagues were repaired.

All in all Rachel's move to London had been for the better.

* * *

><p><strong>Please review and tell me what you think.<strong>


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